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A mixed collection of prose and poetry written for various WdC activities in 2025. |
As much as the alumni committee hated to admit it, they knew the primary reason for the record-breaking number of RSVPs to their twenty-five-year reunion was almost entirely due to their two most famous alumni. The Millard Fillmore High School Class of 2000 boasted not one but two celebrities among its graduating class; Kirk and Sebastian, heralded by Hollywood as the next Damon-Affleck duo. Kirk Kingston was an actor whose star was on the rise after proving his comedic chops on a highly-rated broadcast sitcom for several seasons and then successfully transitioning to more dramatic work in feature films, the first of which was an indie darling that racked up numerous awards on the festival circuit. His casting as the lead in AC Comics’ upcoming Wombatman franchise was eagerly anticipated, and he found himself - for the first time - at the top of the call sheet on a major studio motion picture. Sebastian Stanhope, Kirk’s best friend, was a journeyman director that had skipped college and started working his way up the studio system, from Production Assistant to Cameraman to Cinematographer to Director. He built a cross-genre body of work starting with small independent films and working his way up to mid-level studio features. While he wasn’t quite a Spielberg or a Scorsese quite yet, his unbroken track record of never having a film’s box office end up in the red had landed him at the helm of Wombatman: Origins And while Kirk and Sebastian had worked together many times before, it was - by a considerable margin - the biggest and most high-profile project that either had worked on in their careers. To add to the buzz around the project, the role of the female lead went to Nikki Nova, the latest children’s-cable-network-alum-turned-pop-singer-trying-to-prove-that-she’s-not-a-kid-anymore starlet, which the studio hoped would all but guarantee buzz about the project would be maintained throughout production, especially in the lead-up to the film’s release once rumors started that Nikki and Kirk were dating. Unfortunately, in the age of the twenty-four hour news cycle, it was difficult to keep anything in the public consciousness for more than a week. The night of the reunion, forty-somethings from across the country descended on their hometown again, gathering in the conference center attached to the largest hotel in town; an older, run-down Hilton Garden Inn that looked like the corporate office may have just plain forgotten they even had a location this far out in the sticks. Cheap hors d'oeuvres were set up on a buffet-style table, while classmates congregated around a bar serving even cheaper booze. Former classmates were mingling and sizing one another up, trying to figure out who was the fittest, the most successful, the one who married the coolest spouse. About an hour into the event, one of the alumni hurried in from outside and called out to her friends across the room. “Oh my god, they’re actually here!” All eyes immediately pivoted to the doors to the ballroom where, a minute or two later, Kirk and Sebastian walked into their high school reunion, with Nikki in tow. But what really caught people’s attention is that the person whose arm Nikki held wasn’t Kirk ... it was Sebastian! Had anyone heard about this new development yet? Did the tabloids even know? The murmurs started in the far corners of the room, where classmates clustered to gossip. Kirk headed over to say hello to a few of his old friends from the drama department, while Sebastian and Nikki approached the bar and ordered drinks. “So this is where you grew up,” Nikki commented as she looked around with all the enthusiasm of a teenager being dragged along on a family vacation. “Yep, this is the place,” Sebastian sighed. “Kirk was always the more outgoing one. Look at him over there, already catching up with his friends like no time has passed. I was always the loner. I think I had more DVDs in my video collection than I did friends.” “After this film, you’re not going to be short on people who want to be your friend,” Nikki said with a smirk. “You’ll have your pick of the litter after opening weekend.” “Assuming the film does well.” “That’s why we’re here, Sebastian.” Sebastian remembered the conversation that the three of them had with their reps before the decision was made. The publicists were all on board; they always were if it meant more eyeballs glued to smartphone screens, and more... downloads? Views? Impressions? It was impossible to keep track of what metric they used to gauge attention these days. The lawyers were less enthusiastic about the idea, but then again it was their job to be pessimistic about just about everything that wasn’t a sure thing. It ultimately came down to the agents, and the agents had sided with the publicists, so they were going with the “create a viral moment to stay in the public consciousness” strategy. And what better way to stay in the public consciousness than to stir up a spicy story about Nikki arriving at an event (the reunion just happened to be timed conveniently, and beat the optics of showing up at some Los Angeles club or Michelin-starred restaurant) on the arm of her boyfriend’s best friend. All they had to do was make the rounds, make sure people were taking photos with their phones to post on social media later that night, and then get out. The media would do their thing and they’d be beset by “what’s the status of your relationship?” questions ... to which Nikki and Sebastian and Kirk would all demur ... and that’s how they would keep themselves (and the movie) at the top of the public’s awareness for as long as possible. Was it cynical? Sure. But you couldn’t climb the ladder in Hollywood without some of that being absorbed into your bloodstream. It also didn’t hurt that Nikki was still super-eager to do anything that would help shed her angelic preteen starlet image, so a little romantic love triangle with the next Matt Damon and Ben Affleck was a narrative she wasn’t shy about pushing. “Do you think we should do a little PDA?” Nikki asked Sebastian. “You know, really sell it?” “Oh sure,” Sebastian said agreeably. “I mean, we could just really go for it and have a threesome right here on the floor of the ballroom, surrounded by half the Millard Fillmore High School Class of 2000.” “You’re hilarious,” she said, tempted to roll her eyes at him. But, when she saw the number of eyes and cell phone cameras that were still focused on them, she opted for a playful peck on Sebastian’s cheek instead. Kirk, meanwhile, was taking photos with and signing autographs for classmates bold enough to come over and ask for them. He kept stealing glances over at Nikki and Sebastian, the latter of whom knew his friend well enough to suspect that maybe Kirk wasn’t as into this plan as he seemed at the outset. The guy was crazy for Nikki, so he probably saw how willing she was to go along with this and just decided to go along with it himself. They spent the next thirty minutes mingling with alumni, Nikki signing just as many if not more autographs and taking more selfies than even Kirk. Very few people asked for them from Sebastian; no matter how high profile and powerful you were in the industry, you could never compare to the general celebrity of the people who stood in front of the camera. As Nikki held her phone out to capture a selfie of the three of them together, she saw a news alert pop up. She quickly snapped the picture and then opened the alert; it seems the gossip websites had already gotten wind of the relationship “news” at this reunion, and even already had the picture of Nikki giving Sebastian a little kiss on the cheek. “Looks like our work is done here, boys.” Nikki said as she checked to see how many other outlets had picked up and run with the story. “I think it’s safe to say that we’re going to be in the news for the next several days.” “Can we get out of here, then?” Kirk asked. “I think I’ve signed enough autographs and watched my girlfriend and my best friend flirting with each other enough for one day.” The three celebrities said their farewells and headed out of the Hilton Garden Inn ballroom, knowing the swirl of gossip they left in their wake would be the talk of the reunion long after they left. Now, with a little luck, it would also be the talk of the internet long enough to ensure that the movie would have an impressive opening weekend. —————————————————————————————— Word Count: 1,460 Written For: "The Bradbury"  |
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